


Skyrim: The North

by ml3cz4j



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Assassins, Dark Brotherhood (Elder Scrolls) - Freeform, Dark Brotherhood Questline, Murder, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:15:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24642331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ml3cz4j/pseuds/ml3cz4j
Summary: One-shot set in the world of Skyrim. A woman tells the story of famous Listener and leader of the Dark Brotherhood.
Kudos: 1





	Skyrim: The North

**Author's Note:**

> ! Contains spoilers to the Dark Brotherhood quests !  
> A story originally posted on tumblr a few years ago, written to improve my English when I attended high school.
> 
> Everything except characters created by myself belongs to the rightful owners, Bethesda.

_“Sweet Mother, sweet Mother,_  
_send your child onto me_  
_for the sins of the unworthy_  
_must be baptized in blood and fear.”_

**‘Welcome, my young assassin,’** I said to the lad, sitting on a straw mattress. When he saw me, he immediately stood up. ‘Follow me.’

‘It’s an honour, my lady,’ he bowed his head.

With gesture I showed him to come with me. We went out from the dormitory, through the corridor, to the main chamber. Nazir, the dark-skinned Redguard, was sitting there as usually. He stood up and bowed respectfully as we entered the room.

‘You reek of death, my lady. What can I do for you?’

‘It’s high time I visited our old place, Nazir, so I’ll take advantage of an opportunity since your latest recruit needs a history lecture. Keep an eye on Cicero during my absence, please. Both of them.’

‘I’ll do my best, my lady,’ he said, bowing again and went away.

‘Stay here, I’ll be right back,’ I commanded the recruit and climbed the stone steps.

Upstairs, at the alchemy laboratory, I met Babette. She used to be an ordinary girl, until she had been bitten by a vampire at the age of ten. Although she’s three hundred years old, Babette still looked as if the time remained frozen for her.

‘Hello, Listener. How can I help you?’

‘I need some poison.’

‘Oh, poison!’ Babette brightened up. ‘Umm, what would be appropriate? Frostbite venom...? Or something slower, like Jazbay grapes and Deathbell? Or...’

‘The standard recipe is appropriate, I don’t need anything fancy,’ I interrupted her.

‘As you wish, Listener,’ she bowed her head slightly and turned back to glass vials.

It was freezing cold in the chamber of the Night Mother, colder than in any of the rooms of the Sanctuary. I went towards the high coffin, which was standing upright against the wall. I opened it and my eyes saw a mummified face of the Mother.

‘Keep me in your care, Sweet Mother,’ I whispered, bowing my knee, ‘when the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear.’

I bowed my head and stood up, intending to go. I closed the coffin’s door and turned around.

‘Listener!’ Cicero screamed in my face. ‘What a lovely coincidence! What are we up to today? Maybe killing someone? Oh yes, yes, let’s kill someone! If I spy a singing bird, I’ll snap its neck before it’s heard...’ The fool seemed to be talking more to himself than to anyone else.

‘Not today, Cicero,’ I said coldly.

‘What Listener commands, Cicero will do! The Mother needs him, oh yes, oh yes!’ He cried.

I left the chamber and followed the corridor to the main exit, where the recruit was waiting for me.

He was very young, no older than sixteen. A few wisps of dark blond hair protruded from the hood, his eyes were sparkling like sapphires. However, despite the beauty typical for the valiant Nords, he was thin and not tall. Exactly as an assassin should be.

Nazir recruited him during following one of the orders. Before his very eyes the lad had slit throat of a burly warrior – the subject of the order. In this case, the boy had faced a choice: to join the guild or to die, what is the punishment for taking the Dark Brotherhood’s victim. He hadn’t even hesitated. But why would the Norse lad, who hadn’t been a beggar and probably had led a decent life, want to train for assassin? We, Nords, are a brave and proud nation. Even members of those less well-off Norse families in confrontation with the Brotherhood would choose neither death, nor compromise. With steel they’d win their freedom or honourably provide their seat in Sovngarde. They say that the destination of every Nord is to defeat the enemy in a fair fight and, at last, to die on the battlefield. That is why the lad was so valuable – for many years the Brotherhood had been suffering from lack of young blood.

‘Lady, if I may ask, where are we going?’ The recruit roused me from my meditations after we put on our black coats and went out of the Sanctuary.

‘To the south,’ I said briefly.

We got close to Dawnstar and found a coachman. I gave him twenty gold coins and he agreed to take us to Falkreath without questions.

**The journey took almost three days** as Falkreath was located in the south and Dawnstar was in the north. The road led through Morthal and Whiterun, then along Lake Ilinalta. As dusk had been falling, we laid over in roadside tavern to have a hot meal and get some rest. Travelling at night was associated with the risk of meeting bandits, thieves or deserters, and we did not need trouble.

It was getting dark when we reached Falkreath. Away from prying eyes we disappeared from the highroad, moving to the west from the village. The veil of the night helped us go unnoticed. I saw the lad was exhausted and hungry, but he kept quiet – as befits a good assassin. He understood that he had to stay tough to survive.

We sneaked between the trees carefully, like shadows. I still remembered every part of the road leading to the Sanctuary. Every rock and every bush.

We got very close but then I felt something was wrong. I put a finger to my lips and without words ordered the young man to wait behind the juniper tree. I crept to the top of the hill where the representatives of the Mythic Dawn had created one of the secret Sanctuaries a century ago. And I saw what I had expected.

There was a man, standing near the hidden entrance door. He was wearing a silver plate armour with a diamond-shaped eye engraved in breastplate and a scarlet cloak. A hilt of his bastard sword flashed by his side.

Penitus Oculatus.

For a brief moment blood exploded in my veins – he’s one of those who tried to destroy the Dark Brotherhood. I turned around and, again putting a finger to my lips, signed for the lad to come closer. He approached without the slightest sound and, guessing my intentions, melted into the shadow of a nearby tree. Slowly I walked down the hill, taking out the dagger and before the soldier had figured out something is going on, he fell on his knees with his throat cut. I nodded to the recruit. Together, we dragged the guard’s body to the Black Pond and threw it into depths. Water gurgled violently.

‘Who was this man, my lady?’ He asked in a whisper, almost mingling with the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.

‘Penitus Oculatus knight,’ I said with my voice full of disgust, ‘although only Sithis knows when similar scum came to be called _knights_.’

‘So it was them who the great commander Astrid conspired with?’

‘You are right,’ I answered bitterly. ‘Soon you will see what the mistakes of powerful people lead to.’

I came to the rock and I noticed the outline of palm-shaped print on it. I put there my own palm and closed my eyes. I heard a loud voice, humming in my head. ‘What is the music of life?’ It asked.

‘Silence, my brother,’ I replied.

A picture slowly appeared around, as if an invisible hand was painting it; just as in Dawnstar, it presented the Night Mother, holding a child in her hands. _’Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child onto me for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear’_ – the incantation of the Black Sacrament. The image filled up; the gate twitched and began to recede, revealing a stone staircase.

I lit a torch and descended down a narrow corridor. A small entrance room was located at the end of the stairs. At the stone table, among the ashes, there were remains of the map of Skyrim with old iron daggers scattered around it. With a smirk I noticed they remained glossy, with no rust on them. What caught my attention were the pieces of wood, lying on the floor in a corner of the chamber. I pushed them aside and saw an old book, bound in human skin. There was a tree on its cover; part of the crown was withered. I opened the book on the title page – _Sithis_.

‘How is this even possible?’ The young man whispered, standing behind me while I was leafing through it. ‘It looks... intact. How could a book survive a fire that burned the entire sanctuary?’

‘Because this is not an ordinary book,’ I said both to him and myself. ‘This is the original piece written by Carlovac Townway, one of the members of the Mythic Dawn. It is protected by his magic. Nazir claimed it was stolen during the attack. But yet... It was lying here for so long...’

Pressing a valuable finding to my chest, I went into the main chamber. Again I saw the water reservoir, connected to the Black Pond, and the wall with the Dragon Words carved on. I had witnessed death for so many times but my heart casually shuddered at the sight of scattered bones and numerous piles of dust. There was nothing more left of the burned victims. The corridor to the rest of the Sanctuary was collapsed.

I let the recruit explore the room, until finally I plucked up the courage and went back to the entrance hall. I took one of the daggers from the table, then I began to touch the wall behind it. My hand came across a small imperceptible crack and I thrust the iron blade into it. The wall stepped back.

I raised the torch and a small crypt appeared to us. The memory of this place made me feel a shudder on my neck. The firelight lit up the entire chamber. Ten candles were arranged in a circle on the floor with bones lying in the middle of it. Human bones.

‘By Sithis,’ the lad whispered, ‘is this... Is this the great commander? Is this Astrid?’

‘Yes,’ I replied harshly. ‘That’s her.’

We returned to the entrance room. I leaned against the stone table, looking at the recruit.

‘Let me guess, young man – you know the story of the rise of the Dark Brotherhood, right?’

‘Yes, my lady.’

‘And what do you know about the Great Assault?’

‘All I know is the great commander betraying the Brotherhood. Nazir keeps saying I will find out the truth in due time.’

‘So now is the due time,’ I said, standing up.

*****

 _" **The Dark Brotherhood of Skyrim**_ consisted of six assassins under the command of Astrid: Nazir, Babette, Arnbjorn, Gabriella, Veezara, Festus Krex. You’ve already met two of them. Each one was different in their own way, although they all entrusted the Night Mother with their lives.

One day a young boy called Aventus of the family Aretino whispered his plea during the Black Sacrament. When Astrid went to Windhelm to hear him out, it turned out that someone has been faster than her. Aretino revealed that shortly before her arrival a woman in the hood visited him. He offered her ancestral amulet for killing Grelod the Kind, cruel stepmother at Honorhall Orphanage in Riften.

Astrid immediately started to chase the mysterious stranger but when she reached the place, the city of Black-Briars was abuzz with news about sudden death of the owner of the orphanage. Her old friend, one of the main Thieves Guild activists, turned out to have useful information. Delvin Mallory, who appeared to know about everything what had been happening in the city, told her, that his birds had seen a hooded woman, wandering around. He deemed her an adventurer or a mercenary. Furthermore, he claimed she headed ortheast after leaving Riften.

Astrid went to Whiterun, the first town of Riften in this direction. A drunk beggar, hanging around the Wind District, told her that a woman in black was passing the city two days before. Astrid hadn’t given up; she couldn’t just forget the victim taken away from the Brotherhood. She followed the road up to Morthal and there she finally found the stranger. As the woman was leaving the inn, Astrid managed to intoxicate her with cloth soaked with brew of the Canis Root. Then she dragged the limp body into the hut on the marshes near Morthal. As the woman woke up, it turned out that she wasn’t alone in the shack. She saw three people, kneeling with bags on their heads.

***

_Then she heard a harsh feminine voice. ‘Sleep well?’_

_‘W-what? Where am I? Who are you?’ Eira cried out as she noticed a woman, sitting at the top of an old wardrobe behind her._

_‘Does it matter? You’re warm, dry... and still very much alive. That’s more than can be said for old Grelod. Hmm?’_

_Eira took a deep breath. ‘You know about that?’_

_‘Half of Skyrim knows. Old hag gets butchered in her own orphanage? Things like that tend to get around. Oh, but don’t misunderstand. I’m not criticising. It was a good kill. Old crone had it coming. And you saved a group of urchins, to boot. But there is a slight... problem. You see, that little Aretino boy was looking for the Dark Brotherhood. For me, and my associates. Grelod the Kind was, by all rights, a Dark Brotherhood contract. A kill... that you stole. A kill you must repay.’ The woman threw a dagger at Eira’s feet._

_‘You want me to... murder someone else? Who?’_

_‘Well now. Funny you should ask. If you turn around, you’ll notice my guests. I’ve collected them from... well, that’s not really important. The here and now. That’s what matters. You see, there’s a contract out on one of them, and that person can’t leave this room alive. But... which one?’ A smirk curved on her lips.’Go on, see if you can figure it out. Make your choice. Make your kill. I just want to observe... and admire.’_

_‘And what if... I choose wrong? What if I kill a wrong person?’_

_‘Let’s say that consequences can be...,’ she sniggered, ‘fatal.’_

_Without saying a word, Eira took a look at other ‘guests’ and picked up the dagger. Immediately she felt a shiver of... excitement? Apart from all this shitty situation, having power over these strangers gave her a strange feeling of confidence. She came closer and then one of them shifted nervously._

_‘Is it... is it about that raid last week?’ His voice was shaking, he had difficulty in taking a deep breath. ‘I told him, I told Holgrim there was no honor in killing sleeping men, bit he wouldn’t listen! It wasn’t my fault, I swear... Whoever are you, you have to listen to me, I- I’m a soldier, a mercenary. Yes, I’ve killed people... because I was ordered to. Nobody could blame me for that... Please... please, I—’_

_‘—Silence,’ Eira felt a deep disgust. ‘It is broadly known that the natives of Skyrim are considered brave and fearless, am I right?’ A man nodded rapidly. ‘So tell me, do y o u regard yourself as a Nord?’_

_‘Yes, yes, I lived in Skyrim all my life...!’ He said._

_‘So let me explain something to you, pathetic worm. You are nothing but an insult to your country and your countrymen. There is no place for you in Sovngarde. You should be begging Talos for a dignified death you don’t deserve—’_

_‘—Oh, shut your mouth and go fuck yourself with all your patriotic bullshit. Are we here to confess all our sins or what? I hope you have a good explanation for keeping me here, you damn bitch. Get these things off of me!’_

_Eira looked at the hostage, who was kneeling next to the mercenary. It was a woman and the way she was speaking suggested that she’s done waiting._

_‘Who are you?’ Eira asked._

_‘None of your damned business who I am! If you’re going to kill me, just do it already! As Mara is my witness, if I didn’t have this hood on right now I would spit right in your face...’_

_Eira clucked her tongue several times. ‘If it was me kneeling before the person on whom my life depends, I would try to be a bit nicer.’_

_‘I’m a woman living in Skyrim with six children and no husband. I don’t have the time or patience to be n i c e. Do some people look down on me? Have I made some enemies because of that? You’re damn right. Now let me out of here!’_

_Eira gave a small laugh, then looked at the third ‘guest’. His skin was covered with grey fur – he was a Khajiit. ‘And you? Do you have something to say?’_

_‘Look, whoever this it, clearly we got off on the wrong foot. Ah, but no worries. This is not the first time I have been bagged and dragged,’ he cleared his throat. ‘Vasha, at your service. Obtainer of goods, taker of lives and defiler of daughters. Have you not heard of me? Perhaps,’ his voice changed, ‘I will have my people carve my name in your corpse, as a reminder.’_

_‘I expected nothing else but empty boasts and equally empty threats from you, Khajiit.’_

_He laughed. ‘Tell you what. You release me, and I promise my associates won’t hunt you down like an animal and butcher you in the street. It’s a win-win.’_

_‘Or I will kill you and no one will ever know where to look for y o u r corpse.’_

_He took a breath to say something, but someone else beat him to it._

_‘I truly appreciate your curiosity,’ the woman said impatiently to Eira, getting off the wardrobe, ‘but you should know that I’ve lost a lot of time to track you down and I would be extremely grateful to get it all over with. And yet I am still waiting for your decision. Rely on your intuition and let’s finish it.’_

_Eira hesitated. She had no clue about which hostage she should kill. She could spot the sins of each of them. She could guess the reasons someone would like to see each of them dead. But she still didn’t know who she should pick._

_She saw a potential target... in each of them._

_‘Well, well. Aren’t we the overachiever,’ the strange woman said after seeing Eira slitting throat of every hostage. ‘Three possibilities, three victims. Must have been one of them, right? So why take chances...’_

_‘So who was it?’ Eira asked. She felt something she had never experienced before.’Who was the contract?’_

_‘Oh. No, no, no. Don’t you understand? Guilt, innocence, right, wrong... Irrelevant. What matters is I ordered you to kill someone and you obeyed.’_

_‘So... I am free to go?’_

_‘Of course, but... why stop here? I say we take our relationship to the next level. I would like to officially extend to you an invitation to join my Family. The Dark Brotherhood.’_

***

Astrid didn’t realise that the woman she recruited had been born as daughter of high ranking lord in the council of the kingdom of Skyrim. She lived in Solitude, attending the Bard College. She had prospects of getting married to a high-status man and lead a carefree life but then she would never have guessed how different her life was going to be. Both her parents were killed in a conspiracy formed against them by their political enemies. It was publicly announced that they had died at sea during a storm. Naturally, it didn’t take a long time for their daughter to find out the truth. She escaped the household of the lord, who always seemed kind to her, and who in fact turned out to be the originator of the conspiracy. She abandoned the name her mother gave her – Lykke, _good fortune_. Because Lykke was a thing of the past. 

It was Eira who has become an outcast. At first she earned a living singing in taverns throughout Skyrim. Living on the trail, she met many people, from ordinary blacksmiths and herbalists to robbers and dangerous mercenaries who appreciated her strong personality and will to live. They taught her how to use weapons and how to fight so she could defend herself. Or attack.

Astrid took her to the Sanctuary and Eira turned out to be a teachable and talented recruit.

A few months after these events, an unexpected guest appeared in the Sanctuary – Cicero. He claimed that he had come from across the sea to turn the most valuable treasure in to members of Dark Brotherhood. It was the coffin of the Night Mother which he had called treasure.

The members of the Brotherhood were sceptical of the Night Mother worship. A legend spoke about the Listener who will hear the voice of the Mother for the first time since death took Lucien Lachance. Cicero claimed he has been searching for the Listener; a poor jester kept whispering to the mummified corpse, waiting for an answer. No wonder Astrid found him dangerous and even began to suspect him of conspiring against the Brotherhood.

***

_‘I need your assistance with a matter of a more... personal nature,’ said Astrid when Eira entered her chamber._

_‘Is something wrong?’_

_‘It’s Cicero,’ she said quietly. ‘Ever since he arrived, his behaviour's been... Well, erratic would be an understatement. I do believe he is truly mad. But it’s worse than that,’ Astrid sighed. ‘He’s taken to locking himself in the Night’s Mother’s chamber, and talking. To someone. In hushed, but frantic tones. Who is he speaking with? What are they planning? I fear treachery. My gut’s telling me that demented little fool is up to something.’_

_‘What do you want me to do?’_

_‘Dear sister, I need you to steal into that chamber, and eavesdrop on their meeting. It’ll be no use clinging to the shadows. They’ll see you for sure. No, you need a hiding place,’ Astrid was apparently thinking aloud. ‘Somewhere they’d never think to look. Like inside the Night Mother’s coffin.’_

_Eira looked at her with disbelief. ‘But that seems so... disrespectful...’_

_‘Be that as it may, we have no other choice. You need to remain unseen! Go, before they meet. And report back to me with whatever you learn. Do not disappoint me, sister.’_

_Although the command sounded absurd, Eira had no choice. She sneaked into the chamber with the coffin while Cicero wasn’t there and took a look around the room. She didn’t notice anything that might indicate Cicero’s treason. While searching the shelves, she heard footsteps approaching. Noiselessly she got closer to the coffin and opened its lid. The mummified corpse of the Night Mother appeared to her eyes. Gritting her teeth, Eira crammed herself into the coffin. After a while, she heard Cicero humming as he entered the chamber._

_‘Are we alone?’ She hear his shrill voice. ‘Are we alone? Yes... yes... alone. Sweet solitude. No one will hear us, disturb us. Everything is going according to plan. The others... I’ve spoken to them. And they’re coming around, I know it. The wizard, Festus Krex... perhaps even the Argonian, and the un-child... What about you? Have you... have you spoken to anyone?’_

_‘Who is he talking to?’ Eira thought._

_‘No... No, of course not. I do the talking, the stalking, the seeing and saying! And what do you do? Nothing! Not... not that I’m angry! No, never! Cicero understands. Cicero always understands. And obeys! You will talk when you’re ready, won’t you? Won’t you... sweet Night Mother?’_

_Then Eira realised there was no conspiracy and sighed inwardly. From the very beginning this crazy jester was talking to this cold corpse she felt right beside her. ‘Poor madman’ she thought, but then she heard this frightening voice inside of her head. She barely managed to keep herself from screaming._

_‘Poor Cicero, dear Cicero,’ said the voice. ‘Such a humble servant. But he will never hear my voice. For he is not the Listener.’_

_‘Oh, but how can I defend you?’ Cicero didn’t stop talking. ‘How can I exert your will? If you will not speak? To anyone!’_

_‘Oh, but I will speak,’ the voice sounded again. ‘I will speak to you. For you are the one. Yes, you. You, who shares my iron tomb, who warms my ancient bones.’_

_‘Is it possible?’ Thoughts were spinning in Eira’s head. ‘The legend... is real? And this voice... belongs to the Night Mother?’_

_‘I give you this task – journey to Volunruud. Speak with Amaund Motierre.’_

_Meanwhile, Cicero kept moaning. ‘Poor Cicero has failed you. Poor Cicero is sorry, sweet mother. I’ve tried, so very hard. But I just can’t find the Listener!’_

_‘Tell Cicero the time has come,’ said the Mother. ‘Tell him the words he has been waiting for, all these years: **Darkness rises when silence dies**.’_

_Eira opened coffin lid without hesitation. Cicero let out a strangled cry of shock._

_‘What?! What treachery!’ He shouted. ‘Defiler! Debaser and defiler! You have violated the sanctity of the Night Mother’s coffin! Explain yourself! Speak, worm!’_

_‘The Night Mother spoke to me.’ Eira’s voice was unnaturally calm. ‘She said I am the one.’_

_‘She... spoke to you? More treachery!’ Cicero seemed like he have lost his mind. ‘More trickery and deceit! You lie! The Night Mother speaks only to the Listener! And there is... no... Listener!’_

_‘She said to tell you: Darkness rises when silence dies.’_

_Cicero’s expression changed. ‘She... she said that? She said those words... to you?... But those are the words. The Binding Words. Written in the Keeping Tomes. The signal so I would know. Mother’s only way of talking to sweet Cicero... Then... this is true! She is back! Our Lady is back! She has chosen a Listener! She has chosen you!’ He started to laugh insanely. ‘All hail the Listener!’_

***

However, Astrid still wasn’t convinced of the Night Mother’s worship. She considered the Mother a threat to her own authority in the Brotherhood and forbade Eira to contact mysterious man named Amaund Motierre. It started the avalanche of events.

One day Eira returned to the Sanctuary and came to know that Cicero went mad and threatened Astrid with a knife because of her unbelief and disrespectful behaviour. He hurt Veezara and escaped. Arnbjorn chased him to Dawnstar, where he almost got killed by Cicero. The jester hid in the old unknown Sanctuary. Eira found him. Astrid told her to kill the madman and she decided to cut Cicero’s wrists and ankles and chain him to the wall. Then she left the Sanctuary.

After conviction of Cicero Astrid changed her mind and let Eira contact Amaund Motierre. He turned out to be a member of the central government of the Empire of Tamriel – the Elder Council. Motierre has performed the Black Sacrament but his plea was different from the ones Eira had dealt with so far. People he wanted her to kill... Gaius Maro, son of famous guard commander Maro, Emperor’s personal guard, left dead in Imperial Legion outpost with the incriminating letter planted on his corpse, framing Gaius for being a Stormcloak spy. Vittoria Vici, an Imperial noble, Emperor’s cousin, poisoned with Ice Wraith Bane at her own wedding. Eira should have guessed where all this leaded to. Her actions brought Titus Mede II himself to Skyrim. The Emperor. Because he turned out to be the subject of Motierre’s final contract.

The plan was created. In one of the taverns on the road to Solitude Eira traced Gourmet – the famous mysterious chef, who was heading for the capital city to cook for the Emperor. She killed the man, stole his writ of passage and arrived to Solitude in the guise of cook. With the help of local housewives she prepared a famous dish, the Potage le Magnifique, but added a special ingredient – jarrin root. As she predicted, the Emperor reserved the right of first taste and right after that he fell dead. Before the Jarl and the others figured out what’s going on, Eira slipped out of the Blue Palace.

But there was a surprise, waiting for her at Solitude’s gates – the whole group of Penitus Oculatus soldiers. Eira managed to escape but in the end all her effort had been in vain. She hadn’t poisoned Titus Mede II, but his double. It was a plot, Penitus Oculatus turned out to know every detail of her plan. Eira immediately headed Falkreath. There she found nothing but destruction.

The Sanctuary was destroyed by fire, set by Penitus Oculatus. Soldiers prepared an ambush for Eira. Every of them died by her hand.

Inside the Sanctuary the air was thick with smoke. Dead bodies were lying everywhere; corpses of both enemies and the Dark Brotherhood members. Many of them were butchered, making them impossible to recognise. In the niche behind the Wall Eira found Nazir and Babette, the only survivors in the sea of blood. Nazir was fighting with two soldiers. Eira stabbed one of them in the back with a dagger and distracted the second, so Nazir could slit his throat.

***

_‘So you are alive!’ Nazir shouted._

_‘The Emperor... it was all a trap. Someone set us up!’_

_‘Consumed most of us are now dead, I assumed as much. And before you ask, no – I don’t think it was you. Well, maybe I did, but you saving my sorry hide just now sort of erased any doubts. So thanks.’_

_‘No time for talking, we need to get out of here!’ cried Babette. ‘To the tunnel escape, let’s go!’_

_‘Listener.’_

_‘Wait!’ Eira stopped them. ‘I... can hear...’_

_‘Listener.’ said the voice of the Mother in her head. ‘You must speak with Astrid. Here, in the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.’_

_‘Astrid! Astrid is here!’_

_‘What? By Sithis, I thought we’d lost her! Let’s go!’_

_Eira ran into the entrance hall. She drew her dagger and thrust the blade into the crack in the wall. It stepped back. Eira entered the crypt and her heart lurched._

_Astrid, covered in blood, was lying on the floor, in the middle of a circle of candles. Her body was covered in burns. Eira understood, why she had heard the Night Mother’s voice. Astrid performed the Black Sacrament on herself._

_‘Alive... You’re alive... Thank Sithis...’ Astrid had trouble breathing in and could barely speak._

_‘Astrid...’ whispered Nazir._

_‘Shhh... Please. There is much... I have to say. And... not much time... I’m sorry. So very sorry... The Penitus Oculatus... Maro... He said that by giving you too them... he would leave the Dark Brotherhood alone. Forever... By Sithis, I was such a fool. All of this... it’s all my fault. Sister... You are the best of us, and I nearly killed you... as I’ve killed everyone else...’_

_Eira could only look, unable to make any sound._

_‘Don’t you see? It was me. I set you up, wanted you dead. I betrayed you, the Night Mother... everything I hold dear. And now Maro has betrayed me. I just wanted things... to stay the way they were. Before Cicero, before the Night Mother. Before... you. I thought I could save us. I was wrong. But you’re alive! So there’s still a chance. A chance to start over, rebuild. That’s why I did... this. Don’t you see? I prayed to the Night Mother! I am the Black Sacrament.’_

_‘What are you saying?’ Eira suddenly felt the need to escape from this place._

_‘I’m saying you were right. The Night Mother was right. The old ways... they guided the Dark Brotherhood for centuries. I was a fool to oppose them. And to prove my... sincerity, I have prayed for a contract. You lead this Family now. I give you the Blade of Woe, so that you can see it through. You must kill... Me.’_

_Eira took a quick look Nazir and Babette, then picked up a dagger, which was laying next to Astrid’s hand. It’s blade, as black as coal, approached to woman’s throat._

_‘You will be judged by Sithis in the Void. Surrender to the will of the Night Mother and fall asleep for eternity.’_

***

They left the Sanctuary. Nazir and Babette travelled to Riften to ask an old acquaintance Delvin Mallory for help with restoring the Sanctuary in Dawnstar. Meanwhile, Eira decided to fulfil Motierre’s contract so the Night Mother could receive her victim and people would be aware of the fact that the Dark Brotherhood lived. She managed to track down the true Emperor. And he... surprised her.

***

_‘And, once more, I prove Commander Maro the fool. I told him you can’t stop the Dark Brotherhood. Never could,’ said the old man when Eira entered his cabin on board of Katariah. ‘Come now, don’t be shy. You haven’t come this far just to stand there gawking.’_

_‘You were... expecting me?’ Eira asked quietly._

_‘But of course. You and I have a date with destiny. But so it is with assassins and emperors, hmm? Yes, I must die. And you must deliver the blow. It is simply the way it is,’ the Emperor sounded absurdly carefree. ‘But I wonder... would you suffer an old man a few more words before the deed is done?’_

_Eira was so surprised that all she could say was: ‘I’m listening...’_

_‘I thank you for your courtesy. You will kill me, and I have accepted that fate. But regardless of your path through life, I sense in you a certain... ambition. So I ask of you a favour. An old man’s dying wish. While there are many who would see me dead, there is one who set the machine in motion. This person, whomever he or she may be, must be punished for their treachery. Once you have been rewarded for my assassination, I want you to kill the very person who ordered it. Would you do me this kindness?’_

_‘I’ll... consider your request.’_

_‘Thank you,’ the old man seemed glad. ‘Now, on to the business at hand I suppose, hmm?’_

_Eira approached to him, expecting some kind of trick but the Emperor was honest. He really was ready to die. She drew a dagger. Titus Mede II threw up his hands. With quick move she thrust the Blade of Woe into his chest. He let out a breath and made his last words:_

_‘Farewell... Lykke.’_

***

Eira fulfilled her promise to the Emperor. Announcing Amaund Motierre about delivering the contract was absolutely unnecessary; news of the Emperor’s murder has spread throughout the continent. Motierre rewarded her and then died from her blade, choking on his own blood.

Eira contacted Nazir and Babette and they headed north, to Dawnstar, as they decided to move to the old Sanctuary, where Cicero once had hid. When they had arrived there, it turned out that the mad jester survived. Nazir immediately raised his weapon but Cicero, seeing the Listener, fell to his knees and offered his services. Eira, as the head of the Family, gave him a second chance. Since then, the Dark Brotherhood has resided in Dawnstar Sanctuary, which you know well."

*****

 **There was a silence again.** I turned away from the young man and then he said:

‘Your life was not easy, my lady.’

‘It couldn’t be considered royal, no,’ I said bitterly, sliding my finger along the black blade of the dagger by my side. It’s been so many years and it still was as sharp as a razor. ‘But it doesn’t mean that you have to remain an outcast to the end.’

‘Assassin’s hope is something as uncommon as a solar eclipse,’ I said after a pause. ‘What can you believe if you personally contribute to bloodshed? When every single day you see how fragile human life is? That’s why you have to be ruthless and learn to fight for your own destiny. Remember this lesson, lad.’

Then I left the Sanctuary, coming out to the surface straight into the glow of sunlight, which was shining through the treetops, heralding the awakening of the new day.


End file.
